Wide Eyes
by Nuit Songeur
Summary: Eyes wide with innocence. Eyes wide with horror. Eyes wide in fear. Ursa watches with wide eyes as her daughter is destroyed by her husband's tampering with opium. Warnings: Slight spoilers and references to drug abuse. For a weekly LiveJournal contest.


**A/N: **My first entry for a weekly LiveJournal Avatar Fanfic contest. The prompt was "drug." The OC in here, if anyone notices, bears a strong resemblance to Rasputin. (Hence, inspiration).

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.

**Warnings: **Probable typos. Slight spoilers (reguarding Ursa). And references to drug abuse.

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**Wide Eyes  
**By: Nuit Songeur

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At a young age, Princess Azula often suffered from things such as night terrors and insomnia. It was not uncommon to be awoken late at night by the piercing screams of the girl and, as such, the girl's parents would fall in a habitual routine of rushing toward her bed chamber to discover their daughter upright and sweating, a wild look about her eyes. As time progressed, the Fire Prince and his wife would find themselves standing beside the girl's bed, urging her to sleep- a process that could take up to hours. It wasn't long before the Fire Prince consulted his wife for options.

"We have to do something," he growled irritably, a lack of sleep accompanying with that of his daughter's. He had dark smudges beneath his amber eyes to evince this.

"What _can _we do?" asked Ursa, a sense of hopelessness overcoming her frame as her shoulders slumped and the heaviness of her head required the support of her right hand. "Bring in a doctor for her?" she prompted. Ozai shook his head, for he already had an idea brewing in mind.

"I've talked to a few of my advisors. They say they've heard of a man, the Medicine Man, who has what we may need." The wide-eyed expression of horror flashed through the face of his wife.

"The Medicine Man?" she asked hoarsely. "Ozai, I've heard of him as well, but unlike what your advisors have informed you, I have learned that his practices are dangerous. His so-called _medicines_ are harmful, causing addiction rather than cure-"

"Be quiet, woman," the Fire Prince hissed. "You think I don't know what's best for our daughter?" Ursa withdrew from her side of the argument slightly, not wanting to anger her husband.

"That's not what I said at all, my lord. I only meant-"

"What? That my advisors can't be trusted? That I follow stupidly after their suggestions?" he asked, voice smooth and articulate, a factor that often frightened those who he was addressing. His wife was no exception.

"Not at all!" she defended hastily.

"Good," he said, smirking. "We shall invite the Medicine Man over to the palace to help Azula. Should his results prove negative as you seem to think, he will be banished and we will seek an alternative solution. Understood?" Ursa's lips, which had previously been parted in preparation for a response, merged together as she dipped her chin slightly, nodding in respect.

"Yes, my lord," she murmured gravely, bringing her hands together in the appropriate form as she bowed. With that, she turned slowly on her heel and left her husband's presence.

The dawn of the next morning brought the arrival of the Medicine Man, a lanky fellow with an extremely long, dark beard, wispy dark hair covering his balding head, and the brown robe of someone of his trade. An assortment of talismans and necklaces adorned his long, thin neck. His elongated fingers securely gripped the handle of quite an enormous trunk, piercing blue eyes scanning his surroundings with scrutiny. He was ushered immediately toward the bed chamber of the young Fire princess.

As the Fire Prince was describing his daughter's symptoms to this man, the young girl, who was lying in bed, pulled the covers over her head, shying away from the Medicine Man's frightening appearance. Her mother sat by her bedside, coaxing her from the makeshift shield.

"It's all right, Azula," Ursa said. "He's just here to help you with your problem." The Queen sounded unconvincing; she wouldn't be surprised if Azula didn't believe her. Though, Ursa couldn't blame her daughter. Quite frankly, she didn't trust the Medicine Man either. However, it did nothing to stop the narrowed-eye glare her husband shot at her. The Medicine Man didn't notice the exchange or, rather, decided to ignore it as he rubbed his long spindly hands together in a subdued excitement and, after the action, tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"What your daughter has, I cannot detect for certain-" The Fire Prince abruptly cut him off short.

"Well, you'd better detect something for certain. Otherwise, I would have no other choice other than to dispose of your services. And I'm sure you wouldn't want that happening." The Medicine Man raised his hands up in defense, unperturbed by the Fire Lord's aggressive manner.

"I simply meant, my lord, that there are several variants of insomnia that your daughter is apt to have. Though, almost all insomnia can be cured by a simple herb, to which I have no doubt will help your daughter." The Fire Prince smiled approvingly at the man, pleased that he had a solution to their problem.

"This herb, this treatment, please describe that to us," Ursa interjected. The Medicine Man turned toward her.

"The medicine I shall prescribe to your daughter is from lacerating poppy seeds. It's called opium and can be administered, I've found, several different ways." Ursa's eyes widened considerably.

"Opium?" she exclaimed in an outburst. "You're going to use _opium _on our daughter?"

"Hush, Ursa," Ozai snapped. "The man knows what he's doing."

"Ozai! She's only five years old!" Ursa pleaded with him. "Opium is for the uncontrolled drug addict, not a child!" However, before she could protest any further, Ozai turned and struck her with the back of his hand.

"Enough, Ursa!" he roared at her. "If you decide you want to pester me about nonsensical things, it would be best for you to leave my sight!" Ursa had her face turned away from, brown hair fanned across Azula's bed and her left hand tenderly touching her stinging cheek. After a moment, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and stared at her husband evenly, betraying no emotion of distress as her expression remained hard. She smoothly rose from the bed, standing at full height in a regal posture that echoed her grandfather's- Avatar Roku- stature.

"Very well," she said simply before swiftly exiting the room.

"The princess can receive the opium through injection, digestion, or a new breathing treatment I've recently discovered…" were the last words Ursa heard of the Medicine Man before she was out of earshot.

The next day, Ursa strolled to the courtyard of the palace to see her son, Zuko, peering curiously at the pond and Azula kicking a rubber ball around cheerily. Ursa cautiously approached her daughter.

"Azula?" she asked softly. Azula stopped in her playful proceedings to look up to her mother, wide-eyed expression conveying that of youthful innocence. "How did your session go with the Medicine Man?"

"It was fine," Azula answered. "He's kind of scary but Daddy said there's nothing to be afraid of. They gave me this tiny black pill and, after I took it, it made everything go fuzzy. I was really sleepy after that." Ursa nodded, forcing a smile on her face.

"That's good, dear." Ursa eyed the ball at Azula's feet. "Carry on."

The days of the week following that occurred in the same manner. Ursa was not allowed to bear witness to any of the sessions with the Medicine Man. So, she was forced to ask Azula about them the next morning. In the first week, Azula would shyly explain how it was successful, saying the pill the Medicine Man gave her always made her sleepy and her mind fuzzy so she could go to sleep easily without the normal nightmares. By the end of the week, Azula was invigorated by the Medicine Man, excited that he was helping her. Ursa was slightly worried by the high favor Azula was praising him with.

The following week transpired basically in the same manner.

The week after that, however, Ursa began noticing some disturbing changes in her daughter. The youthful wide-eyes she usually had slowly diminished into narrow slants, much like her father's. Her forehead would crease as well at frequent intervals, something that seemed uncharacteristic for the five year-old child. She was also more prone to snap in angry outbursts for inexplicable reasons. Ursa even caught her picking on her brother even more.

"Stupid!" she exclaimed one day, cackling with laughter as she kicked Zuko over, face first, into the courtyard's pond. "Daddy says I'm better than you! He says the Medicine Man comes to see me because I'm special!" Zuko grudgingly got to his feet and sauntered away from his sister. Stunned, Ursa rushed over to her daughter and kneeled down to look her in the eye.

"Azula!" she reprimanded. "What has gotten into you?" Azula had stopped in her laughing. She stared wide-eyed at her mother, afraid of punishment, and shrugged. Ursa could only sigh and sent her off.

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"More!" Azula screamed. "I need more!"

The young princess was struggling beneath the grasp of the Medicine Man as he tried holding her down to her bed. Beneath her bloodshot eyes were dark smudges that had slowly returned six months after the Medicine Man's arrival. Her father was standing by, his face displaying just how furious he was at his daughter's condition.

"Is there nothing you can do?" he bellowed at the Medicine Man who shook his head dismally.

"She's already had the maximum dosage of three pills tonight."

"It's not working," Azula cried helplessly, tears streaming down her pallid face. "I need _more_!"

After what seemed like hours, the Medicine Man and her father seemed to finally calm her fit down and used a method of injecting the opium into her bloodstream to where she finally collapsed onto her bed and slept the night away.

As Ozai left his daughter's room, his wife was lurking in the shadows of a nearby pillar. She spoke out to him, interrupting his gait as he stopped to listen to her words.

"And to think, your advisors suggested you hire this man to help our daughter. Whereas, if you only heeded _my_ words, then this whole situation of getting Azula addicted to opium would have been avoided."

"Perhaps," Ozai said, indifferently, walking away from Ursa without a glance or another word.

The Medicine Man was not banished like Ozai had promised to his wife. But, rather, he was kept around the palace to stock Ozai's own secret stash of opium.

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I hope you've enjoyed. Please review. I accept Anons. :)

**_-NuitSongeur_**


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